31 Days of Halloween – Movie Orgy

Friday night involved running some errands and watching Red. There was a lot of action. But it was paced and still left you feeling that it was rather relaxing. The movie was very funny but we all expected that. I didn’t expect it to be as cute as it was. It was a funny, cute, action movie.

Saturday was the all girl, Halloween slumber party and movie fest. The menu was spanikopita, bead with an artichoke spread and a pumpkin butter spread, thin specialty ham, shrimp with cocktail sauce, fruit and melon, and truffles. The bon bon type, not the cooking type.

We started out with St. Trinian’s. This was a delightful British film with a superb cast. An all girl boarding school with an unusual outlook has to make enough money to keep the bank from foreclosing on them with also trying to keep the minister of education from taking over the school to set an example of them as a ‘bad’ school. I must own this movie.

The second movie was Paranormal Activity. We had high hopes for it. So many people said it was so very scary.

Is this scary? When is it going to get scary? It’s so not scary yet.

That was pretty much our train of thought the whole way through. Maybe Asian horror movies have ruined us for things like Paranormal Activity. The only ‘scary’ bit was right at the end. And by then it was pretty darn predictable. I do NOT recommend Paranormal Activity to people who are already fans of horror movies. People who prefer good ‘ghost story’ horror movies and spooky movies over slasher horror will not find this scary at all.

We went retro and watched Highway to Hell next. This was a fun little 1992 movie that was a take on the Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Not brilliant movie making but a good romp.

Sunday.

I woke up before everyone else. 7:30. I had 2.5 hours of sleep. I couldn’t get back to sleep so I put in The Woods. Another all-girls school, this one was more spooky that Paranormal Activity. And it was a nice way to work Bruce Campbell into the movie weekend. This story of witches, children, strange skills, and legends has strong acting skills, better writing than a lot of horror films that make more money, and a nice creepy tension factor. I like it. It was my second time watching it and I still like it.

Everyone else was still asleep so I put in Dorian Grey. The movie was very good but somewhat hard to put into words without giving it all away. A young man who has a kind heart and good spirit return home after his grandfather’s death. A man who hated him and blamed him for his mother’s death. A friend of the family takes him under his wing and completely corrupts this youth until nothing is left of that young many. Another friend painted his picture right after he came to town. The most perfect picture the painter ever painted. The movie doesn’t really go into any detail on how the picture becomes the vehicle to absorb all the evil that Dorian does in his life. But when Dorian kills the painter after he shows him what is happening, Dorian leaves England and doesn’t return for about twenty years. Prior to his departure, people had noticed that nothing of his dissipated lifestyle showed in his face. That type of dissipation often ages a person. But it isn’t until his return and he still looks like he only a little over twenty years old that people wonder about him. He actually falls in live and wants to make up for his life and seems to finally be feeling guilt for his actions while still fearing he might kill the woman he loves. The final outcome became increasingly obvious as to how it would occur the closer and closer it got to the end. You are left with a sense of overwhelming sadness. You also don’t really think that man who shaped Dorian into the monster he became really understood and accepted responsibility for what he had done to the young man.